Trial or daily balance sheet.



No.'653,266. Patented sept. la, |900. L. H. JoHNsoN. TRIAL 0R DAILYBALANCE SHEET.

(Application led Oct. 24, 1899.) (N o M o d e I @o MME..

(7l/@lineman UNiTnD STATES l.

v'Pnfrlsivr OFFICE.

LOUIS HOVE JOHNSON, OF EUGENE, OREGON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF1 -TO GLASSda PRUDHOMME, PORTLAND, OREGON. l v

I TRIALOR DAILY BALANCE SHEET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,266, datedSeptember 18, 1900.

Application tiled October 24, 1899. Serial No. 734,659. (No model.) 1 yTo aZwi/owt it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, LOUIS HOWE JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Eugene, in the county of Lane and State of Oregon, haveinvented certain 'new and useful Improvements in Trial or Daily BalanceSheetsg'and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others roskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to means for facilirating the taking of trial ordaily balances from sets of books used in keeping the ac- I 5 counts ofbanks, manufactories, mercantile establishments, or other businessconcerns.

At the present day it is almost the universal custom for large businessconcerns to take a daily balance and to take trial balances zo fromtheir books` at short intervals, and

`be provision made whereby any individual where no devices other thanthe usual ledger and balance-sheets are used so` much labor is involvedin taking such balances as to make it a very onerous and expensive task.On account of this 'fact many devices have beeninvented and patented forfacilitating This work and much time, money,and ingenuity expended inthe Origination and development of such devices, clearly indicating 3othe.value of a cheap, durable, and efficient device of this class.

The object of my invention is to produce a device of this class whichshall be durable, economical in construction and in the labor requiredto Operate it, and of the handiest possible form. In experimenting witha view to this end I have dulyconsidered many prior constructions, allpossessing more or less merit, among which may be mentioned 4otrial-balance sheets prepared for the easy erasure and alteration of oneor more individual balances and the consequent erasure and alteration ofthe totalswithout interfer- ,ing in any Way with those individual bal- 45 ances which may not have been changed since t-he last trial or dailybalance was taken. This saves the labor of copying the Whole priorbalance-sheet, and inasmuch as a very small proportion of the individualbalances 5o are changeddaily amounts to the saving of a very largeproportion of the Work, and the `one figure they are indicated by mainobject of all previous efforts in this line seems to have been theproduction of the best possible means for accomplishing this economicalresult. n

As a result of my experiments for the perfection of my invention I havecome to the conclusion that a complete device of this class shouldpossess, among other characteristics, the following, to Wit: First, thede- 6o vice should be entirely separate from and independent of theledger, so as to permit balances being taken without unnecessaryhandling of heavy ledgers, which will be of especial value in largeconcerns where the accounts are so numerous as to require more than oneledger and Where more than one bookkeeper is employed, in the latterinstance a specialradvantage being that one l may Work on the ledgerWhile another is at 7o Work on the balances; second, there fshouldbalance may be changed,as before mentioned, Without alteringorintert'ering with any other balance; third, the device jbeing handledoften should be of durable constructionv and of handy form; fourth, the4balance-sheet and other operative parts should be remove able andinterchangeable, so that any single one may be renewed When requiredwithout 8o interfering with any of the rest. n

With the before-mentioned objects in vievv y'my invention consistsinan'improved device or apparatus for facilitating the taking of trial ordaily balances from the books of business concerns, the -construction,arrangement, and combination of the parts of which will be fullydescribed hereinafter and the specific points'of novelty particularlyset forth in the appended claims. 9o

In the accompanying drawings, Figurev l represents -a top or facevviewof'a device con structed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2represents a transverse sectional view; and Fig. 3 represents aperspective view of 95 the device turned over to the left to expose theopposite face from that 'shown in Fig. l,

one of the transparent sheets hereinafter described being partiallydrawn out.

Where the same parts appear in more than roo the same numerals.

In the embodiment of my invention I pro- Vide a main body or sheet l, ofcardboard or other analogous material, upon which are placed sheets 2 3on one or both sides, said sheets being ruled as though intended fortrial-balance sheets, the sheet -2 being horizontally ruled to receivethe names and pages of the several accounts, the lines being spaced by asingle vertical line near the right-hand side of the slieet, and thesheet 3 ruled ho'rizontally and vertically to receive the figuresdenoting the balances of the several accounts and the total of all thebalances on the sheet. The main body or sheet l is thickened along itstop and side edges and down its central portion, as at 4e, on one orboth faces, and a frame of cardboard or analogous material secured uponsuch thickened portions, the side pieces 4 and the upper end piece 4b ofsaid frame projecting inwardly beyond the edges of the thickenedportions of the body l, upon which said side and end pieces rest, andthe central piece 5, which divides the frame into two compartments,projecting on each side beyond both side edges of the central thickcnedportion of the body l, upon which it rests. By virtue of thisconstruction slide- Ways are formed at the sides ot'sheets 2 and 3, withopenings at their lower edges, whereby transparent sheets 6 and 6a maybe inserted or removed, said transparent sheets when inserted coveringthe sheets 2 and 3, respectively, in which position the ruling of sheets2 and 3 will show through the transparent sheets 6 and 6, so thatentries may be made on said transparent sheets with the ruling of sheets2 and 3 as guides therefor, and the entries being capable of easyerasure as many as necessary may be erased each day and new entries madeand the totals changed without in any wise interfering with the entriesin which no change in the balance has been made during the day.

On the upper end piece 4b of the frame are placed the proper headings ofthe sheets 2 and 3, such headings being preferably perinanent and inthis instance consisting of the words, Trial or daily balance, Nalnes,Ledger page, Debit balance, and Credit balance.

The transparent sheets are freely removable through spaces 7, whereeither may be removed and another inserted whenever necessary, therebypermitting of the renewal of single sheets without the necessity ofrenewing others not so much Worn or soiled.

The changes on the transparent sheet 6 would be less frequent than thoseon the transparent sheet 6a, and by employing two com paratively-narrowtransparent sheets instead ot' one wide one quite a saving of materialis secured. My improved device, which,

as a whole, I denominate a trial or daily balance sheet, is not intendedto be bound with the ledger, but is intended to be separate therefromand used singly or a number of them bound into a trial or daily balancebook.

The names will be arranged in alphabetical order, a certain number ofentries to a page, to facilitate handling account-s. Another importantfeatureV of my invention is constructing the frame' the same on bothfaces of the central body portion or sheet l and providing duplicatename, ledger-page, debit and credit sheets 2 and 3, so that both facesof sheet l can be employed, thus doubling the capacity of the device. Asa means of binding my improved trial or daily balance sheets into atrial or daily balance book they are provided with extensions 8, whichare connected by a suitable flexible hinge 9, as clearly shown in thedrawings, and may be secured together either temporarily or pe rmanently,leaving each leafL i sheet free to be moved as the leaf of abook.

By' constituting the trial or daily balance sheet independent of theledger, so that it can be entirely removed therefrom, a great advantageis secured over trial balances which are bound into the ledger, for thereasonthat it enables a teller in a bank or a second bookkeeper to usethe sheet at the same time the bookkeeper is working on the ledger,which could not be done if the sheet was bound in the ledger.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

l. As a new article of manufacture, atrial or balance sheet comprising amain body or sheet l, separate sheets mounted thereon properly ruled toreceive the names, ledgerpages and debit and credit balances, a skeletonframe secured to the face of the sheet 1 with slideways along the edgeof each separate sheet, and transparent sheets arranged in saidslideways and covering said ruled sheets, the skeleton frame bein,"rprovided with suitable permanent headings for thc ruled sheets,substantially as described.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a trial or balance sheetcomprising a main body or sheet l, thickened along its upper and sideedges and longitudinally through its center, separate sheets mountedthereon, properlyruled to receive the names, ledgerpages, and debit andcredit balances, said sheets being mounted between the edge andlongitudinal centrally-thickened portions of said sheet 1, a skeletonframe secured upon the thickened portions of the sheet l and projectingslightly over said separate sheets, forming slideways along the edge ofeach separate sheet, and transparent sheets arranged `in said slidewaysand covering said ruled sheets, the skeleton frame being provided `withsuitable permanent headings for the `ruled sheets, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

Witnesses:

W. W. BROWN, W. BROWN.

IOO

